Healthy Middle Eastern Recipes

These Healthy Middle Eastern Recipes From NYC's Au Za'atar Are About To Make You Salivate

If you’re feeling adventurous and want to really, REALLY impress guests at your next dinner party or put together the ultimate date night menu (or just treat yourself to something that tastes amazing while also being good for you), give this recipe a try! It may sound like it’s for experts only, but the mouth-watering result will totally be worth the effort.

Chankleesh (Spiced Cheese)

1 gallon whole milk

2 cups plain yogurt

1 tbsp. salt

2 tsp. black pepper

1 tbsp. sumac

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. ground anise

1 tsp. dried mint

1 tsp. black sesame seeds

Pour the milk into a large pot over high heat and bring to a boil while stirring gently and occasionally. After the milk boils, turn off the heat and cover so that milk cools off. Once the milk has cooled, add yogurt and whisk until it is fully blended with the milk. Let the yogurt-milk mixture rest in the refrigerator for 18-24 hours.

Pour the yogurt-milk mixture into a cheesecloth bag and hang for four days to drain remaining liquid from the yogurt. Once the liquid has drained, the yogurt-milk mixture’s consistency is similar to that of cream cheese. This is labneh, Arabic strained yogurt cheese. At this point, mix in the salt, cumin, paprika, ground anise, cayenne pepper and 1 tsp. of black pepper. Form the spiced labneh into palm-sized chankleesh balls.

On a small plate, mix together the sumac, dried mint and remaining black pepper. Roll the chankleesh balls in this spice mixture, coating the exterior. Wrap the spice-coated chankleesh balls with cheesecloth. Let the balls sit in the refrigerator for 12 days, changing the cheesecloth every few days to keep the chankleesh balls dry. Finally, place them in jar and pour olive oil over them before serving.